Didn't Get the Job? You'll Never Know Why

Didn't Get the Job? You'll Never Know Why(online.wsj.com)

11 points by mtoddh 12 years ago | 8 comments

blibble 12 years ago |

In the UK (or any other country with data protection laws): a Subject Access Request will get you all interview notes and internal emails, the company has no choice in the matter.

jleyank 12 years ago | |

Doesn't this law mean that companies will go to great lengths to avoid generating anything that can be tracked or demanded? All decisions verbal, etc...?

blibble 12 years ago | | |

most employers keep written records to avoid any possibility of a discrimination suit.

the government has very strong guidelines on this sort of thing, and if you're a large company with an HR department, the Information Commissioner is likely to not believe you if you state that you don't keep written records about job applicants, and destroying the information is a criminal offence.

example of an organisation's policy: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/records-management-s...

mathattack 12 years ago |

There are legal risks involved with sharing anything in the US. As a result, you need a deep personal connection with the recruiter (usually predating the interview) to get any kind of feedback.

The EEOC push has benefits, but the danger is it reduces the efficiency that feedback could provide.

It's worth noting that headhunters can fill this role. Since they're only an intermediary, they frequently can get away with giving direct feedback.

mosqutip 12 years ago |

This always bothers me when I'm interviewing. I've gotten the "better suited candidate" as well as the "lack of experience" and "not right at this time" excuses. How does that help me in any way as a job seeker? I am, in some way, "not right" for the position. How? Too shy, or too forward? Too young or too old? Experienced in the wrong technologies, or not experienced enough in the right ones? Or both?

This just leads to depressing frustration. I want to improve and be the right candidate, but I don't know how and no one will help me figure out how.

Luckily, I have a job now. But God forbid when I have to start the interviewing process again.

recursive 12 years ago | |

The companies you are applying to are not trying to help you as a job seeker. They are interested in satisfying their own requirements.

If companies provided fine-grained feedback on specific deficiencies, it would inevitably create an opening for an argument about those items, which they have no interest or motivation to do.

jacques_chester 12 years ago | |

Job hunting is like online dating. If you get emotional about any one person or job in advance, you will become miserable. Nobody owes you anything and you can be rejected for any reason.

Be smart, be prepared to apply widely, and take the view that rejection is the default case.

bragh 12 years ago |

The hassle of job seeking can actually be a pretty good motivator for entrepreneurship. Why would one want to play the game of crafting CVs, studying for interviews and playing the interview game when all that isn't actually relevant to the work you want to and will be doing? You could be spending that time trying to develop or sell a product you actually do care about and if successful, will see decent return on your investment of time. And it's not like the interview game even matters, when in the end a nephew of the head of another department gets the job, no matter his 2.7/5.0 GPA.